


Hung Up

by MagicInMe123



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Angst, Ava Lance needs a hug too, But not as badly as Sara, Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Fix-It, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Sara Lance Needs a Hug, at least through 4x11, post episode 4x09, the Legends love their Sara
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-01-25 19:46:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18581353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicInMe123/pseuds/MagicInMe123
Summary: Post episode 4x09A different, angstier, take on how Sara and Ava found their way back to each other in the days following their fight.Or, Sara gets hurt chasing after a high level anachronism and Ava just can't stay away, not even if she wanted to. (she doesn't)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! I’ve been watching so much LoT lately and I can't get enough of this pairing. So this picks up right after 4x09 but I’m not a big Mona fan - although she is growing on me - so she’s not in this. ALSO the story follows canon pretty closely through 4x11. I just saw episode 12 tonight and I actually really liked how they got them back together (even though it was absurd) but I wrote most of this before it aired.

The second Sara Lance slammed her office door behind her, Ava knew she had made a terrible mistake. The older blonde allowed the tears to fall only once she knew that she was alone and that Sara did not plan to double back and try to speak to her again. As much as she wanted to fall apart in peace, part of her was supremely disappointed that Sara hadn’t fought harder for her.

Typically, Ava would drive herself home as she felt that taking a portal everywhere was a frivolous waste of Time Bureau resources but today, she could not be bothered to drive all the way back to her apartment. She gathered the last of her belongings from her office, opened a portal to her place, and stepped through it.

Her fight with Sara weighed heavily on her conscious and the blonde agent found that she was unable to even consider having something to eat. Ava wandered through her spacious apartment to where she knew she would be able to find her cats and gave each of them a quick scratch behind the ears in greeting. The blonde agent worked her way through her evening routine as quickly as possible, showering off her terrible day and slipping into bed.

Tomorrow would be better. Great Beebo knew it couldn't be worse.

* * *

 

Anger still lingered heavily in the set of Sara’s tense shoulders and stiff posture as she climbed back on to the Waverider. The blonde felt an overwhelming desire to head to the gym and beat the crap out of something. Or someone. But Sara had long since banned herself from sparring with anyone she knew or even remotely cared about when she was upset, it was far too dangerous and Sara would not be responsible for anyone else’s pain tonight.

“Sara, hey,” Zari called softly from her place lingering by the breakfast bar in the kitchen. The dark haired woman suspected that Sara had not noticed her presence and she had long since learned her lesson about spooking the captain.

“Z,” Sara nodded in greeting. She balled her hands into fists and crossed her arms over her chest, making it clear to even a blind person that she wasn’t interested in talking. 

Zari had been about to ask what had happened with Ava but Sara stood still for only a few seconds before making a beeline for her not-so-secret stash of alcohol next to the fridge. She removed an expensive looking bottle of whiskey from the cabinet and poured herself a very generous shot.

Zari whistled in response, “That bad, huh?”

Sara didn’t say anything but instead took the shot without flinching and immediately poured herself another.

“Whoa alright, slow down for a second,” Zari commanded. She pushed off of the wall and crossed the kitchen so she was standing right next to the blonde.

“Tell me what happened.”

Sara let out an exasperated sigh. She closed her eyes for a beat. And then two. Surprising both Zari and herself, she opened her eyes, and then her mouth.

 “I guess I just didn’t think we would be fighting over such…real things,” Sara confessed, running a hand through her blonde hair. Zari couldn’t help but take stock of the bags under her captain’s eyes, the tense set of her shoulders and her general lack of light in her eyes. It occurred to her that Sara had to be running of fumes after their latest anachronism and then heading straight to the Bureau to confront Ava, Sara had had no time to sleep, eat, or even breathe really.

“Sara, couples fight,” the brunette reasoned, crossing her arms. “You guys were bound to have twice as many complications as normal couples because of the, you know, time travel thing you both deal with regularly.”

“No, I know that,” Sara growled. “I know that things are complicated and I expected to fight like any two people in a relationship do but I expected us to fight about not getting to spend enough time together or Ava hogging all the blankets. Hell, I even expected to fight about my past and her past, the whole clone thing, _and_ the whole ‘I’ve been dead twice over’ thing, you know?”

Zari seemed to get the hint that this was a time for her to listen and not offer any type of opinion. She nodded in a way that she hoped was encouraging and gestured to the stools at the breakfast bar. Sara took the hint and the two women sat down.

“But fighting over whether or not it’s okay to _torture_ magical creatures, simply because they exist?” Sara let out a massive sigh. “That’s not something I was prepared for. Ava cares about people, I know she does.”

“Yeah, exactly Sara, she cares about _people_ and not creatures,” Zari reminded her. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a flash of movement and a few seconds later, Ray’s head popped out. Although he was relatively oblivious, he seemed to understand that a serious moment was going on; he looked over at Zari questioningly and she shook her head subtly. Ray nodded once to himself before returning to his quarters, the glass of water could wait.

“But this just isn’t _her,_ ” the blonde woman argued. “Creatures, people, the stray kittens that live in the back alley behind her apartment, Ava cares about others. The Ava that I know, the girl I love, would never ever condone, never mind assist with, the torture of magical creatures.”

Zari sighed dramatically, scooting closer to Sara’s stool but still not touching her. Neither of them were really the touchy feel-y type and Zari seemed to sense that her touch would be unwelcome on account of her captain’s tightly wound muscles.

“It’s fucked up for sure,” the raven haired woman agreed. “But you need to be having this conversation with her, not me.”

The Waverider captain frowned and dropped her eyes to the kitchen bar in front of her. In the back of her mind she was well aware that the only person she should be talking to about this was her – was Ava still her girlfriend? ‘I’m done’ and ‘get out’ were typically phrases that signaled the end of a relationship but they had been through something similar before, when Sara had left Ava in order to protect her.

“Just call her up, Cap,” Zari suggested, standing up from her bar stool seat. “I’m going to bed and everyone else is asleep, you can take the call right here in the kitchen.”

Sara just looked so _sad_ and so defeated, slumped over in her seat. The woman obviously carried the weight of the world on her shoulders and Zari was not an emotional person but a wave of pity washed over her. Before she could second guess herself, she reached across and wrapped an awkward arm around her friend and tugged Sara’s shoulders back until they were resting against her front.

“You’re gonna be alright Sara,” Zari murmured quietly. “If anyone can work this out, it’s you and Sharpe.”

And with her parting words of wisdom, Zari excused herself to her own quarters for the rest of the night and hoped that the magical creatures out in the world wreaking havoc would give it a rest for a few days. The Legends were no match for the anachronisms without their captain and their captain was in no condition to go chasing down highly dangerous creatures in this state of mind.

* * *

 

Sara wanted to take Zari’s advice. Every part of her longed to call Ava and see her face on the hologram. In a moment of weakness – after she busted out her strongest scotch of course – Sara even wanted to beg the other woman to step through a portal so she could just look into those blue eyes she loved so much. But what if she called and Ava had yet to cool off? Or worse, what if she called and Ava was more confident than ever that they weren’t right for each other. What if Ava looked into her eyes and wanted to end things because Sara wasn’t enough. Sara Lance was a lot of things but she wasn’t completely emotionless and she definitely wasn’t ready for her relationship to be over.

So she didn’t call.

Instead, she drank an entire bottle of scotch along with her handful of shots of whiskey. A less experienced drinker might even be dead at this point but her plan worked. She was unable to feel anything except extreme dizziness, some light nausea, and a feeling a warmth throughout her entire body.

“Gideon,” Sara slurred, tossing an unnecessary gesture up towards the ceiling.

“Captain Lance,” Gideon greeted.

“I gotta get to my room but there’s no Avvva,” she whined. If Gideon were an actual person, she would probably be extremely concerned by how drunk the captain was; preemptively, Gideon fabricated a bottle of aspirin and a glass of water on the blonde’s bedside, knowing how much she would need them tomorrow.

“That is correct Captain Lance, there is no Director Sharpe in your bedroom. However, I must recommend that you retire for the evening. I have taken the liberty of leaving you a glass of water and bottle of aspirin to mitigate the massive pain you will likely feel tomorrow as a result of your over intoxication.”

“You’re the bestest ever,” Sara sighed dreamily. Although she wasn’t completely in control of her faculties, Sara hoisted herself off of the barstool and dragged her feet – stumbling every step – down the hallway of the Waverider and retired to her chambers. Perhaps tomorrow would be a better day.

 

To Sara’s extreme disappointment, but not surprise, the next day could hardly be categorized as ‘better.’ She was woken up at 8 am, only 5 hours after she’d gone to bed, by Gideon because the rest of the Legends had already woken up, eaten breakfast, and found a high level anachronism for them to tackle. Zari knew that their captain was most likely feeling like shit; she was an early riser and had seen the empty shot glass along with the empty bottle of scotch and cleared them up before the other members of the team had woken up and seen them. She tried to persuade the others to allow Sara to sleep in but Nate looked at her questioningly and Charlie’s eyebrows raised in intrigue. Although Zari played it off fairly well, she knew she had to drop the idea of leaving Sara alone somehow without tipping them off something was actually wrong or else she’d face the full wrath of the protective Legends who would all but demand to be allowed to help Sara.

“Sara!” Nate greeted excitedly, much peppier than Sara was prepared to deal with.

The blonde winced at the bright lights in the Waverider kitchen and the typical morning chatter she could hear between Wally, Charlie, and Ray.

“Good morning captain Lance,” Gideon greeted. “It seems the other Legends have located a level nine anachronism in 1945 in Japanese city of Hiroshima.”

“That sounds…serious,” Sara offered, still battling a pounding headache. There was something vaguely sinister about that year but she couldn’t quite put her finger on why.

“You ready to go?” Charlie asked, standing up and shrugging her leather jacket on.

“Yeah, yup,” Sara affirmed confidently, albeit wishing she'd taken a double douse of aspirin. “Let’s go Legends.”

* * *

 

After Ava’s second phone call to the Waverider went unanswered, a feeling of discomfort settled in the pit of her stomach. Even if Sara was still angry and actively ignoring her, she was calling from her official Time Bureau phone and the Legends always picked that one up – considering it could anyone from the Bureau, including Nate’s Dad.

Two days had passed since their fight and while she wasn’t really ready to talk to Sara yet, Ava had only been at her desk for a few hours and work was already Hell. She just wanted to see the other woman’s face, just for a moment. At least, that’s what she was telling herself.

“Gary,” Ava called. She made no effort to raise her voice because she knew Gary was never far enough away.

“Yes director Sharpe?” He bounced in like an excited puppy, eyes wide.

“I need you to check on the Legends,” She commanded, keeping her face intentionally blank.

“The Legends?” Gary gulped. “That, that might be difficult.”

Ava’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “And why is that?”

“Well because, because they’re in Japan,” Gary stuttered.

“Why? Wait and how do you know that?”

“Well they’re after a level…” Gary checked his phone and gulped. “now 11 anachronism. And I know that because Nate sent a message to our command center letting us know they were handling it so we wouldn't send one of our teams too."

“A level _eleven!”_ Ava shouted. She shot up from her desk and started pacing back and forth. “And they just went after it? With no backup?”

“Well,”

“She’s so _stubborn_ and such an idiot sometimes I swear,” she ranted.

“She?” Gary asked.

Ava rolled her eyes, “They, I meant _they_ are idiots.”

Gary opened his mouth to reply but before he could, Ava held up a hand.

“Just get me a direct line to the Legends, now.”

“Right away sir director Sharpe sir,” he said nervously; and with that, he raced out the door.

Following Gary’s departure, Ava did her absolute best to concentrate on the mountains of paperwork in front of her but her mind would not stop racing. What if something happened to the Legends, to Sara? What if the reason Sara wasn’t calling her back was because there was a problem with anachronism instead of because she wasn’t ready to talk? A small part of Ava was secretly pleased at notion that Sara hadn't called her because she was stuck in Japan and likely had no concept of present time as opposed to because she was simply ignoring her. 

Before the director could stew on her thoughts for too long, Gary barged back into her office – once again forgetting to knock – and offered her a low tech cell phone and a guilty expression.

The sense of panic she had been fighting leapt from her stomach all the way up into her throat.

“This is Director Sharpe,” she answered professionally.

“Ava? It’s Zari,” a static voice replied. “You’re…gonna wanna get to the Waverider. Like ASAP.”

And just like that, Ava’s heart sank all the way down to her feet.

* * *

 

Ava no doubt shattered the sound barrier in an effort to get to Sara. She was past the point of playing her cards close to the vest or letting her pride stop her from making sure her girlfriend was okay. She opened a portal to the Waverider at record speed and seconds later, she was running down the halls of the ship like a heat seeking mistle headed to the medbay.

Not even a full minute later she found herself standing outside the glass walls of the medical center, her blue eyes locked on the tiny blonde figure crumpled up on the hospital cot.

Ava’s limbs felt heavy and cold.

She wasn’t completely sure that she could see if Sara was breathing.

On autopilot, she slipped in through the door and joined the entire team in crowding around their fearless leader’s bed. A tidal wave of relief crashed over her as she saw the light blue eyes she loved so much open for just a moment and drink her in.

“Sara,” Ava said, shocked. “What _happened?”_ Although the question was spoken in Sara’s general direction, it was clearly a question for the other Legends. In part, because the younger blonde had a nasty habit of downplaying her injuries and partially because she wasn’t entirely sure that the Waverider captain could speak even if she wanted to. She looked terrible. Her entire head was covered in blood that was clearly from a head wound of some sort. Ava tried to calm her breathing and recall from her academy training that head injuries tended to bleed more than others and it was important not to lose her cool.

Sara’s arms were so bruised that Ava wasn’t even able to see the birthmark that she loved so much. The rest of her was covered by her mission clothes which happened to be black jeans and a tight black top; clearly the legends were not intending to blend in with their period so much as disappear into the crowd. Gideon had clearly very carefully taken the captain’s boots off in order to see the damage done to her feet by what Ava could only guess was an explosion. Upon realizing that she wasn’t going to get a good answer – or any answer – from Sara, she turned her steely gaze on her teammates.

“What the hell happened out there?” Ava demanded again, her eyes shooting around and meeting every single pair of the Legends’. The team was clearly too shell shocked to answer; Zari was zoned out, staring at Sara’s clearly very injured feet, Charlie was squeezing Zari’s shoulder comfortingly, and the boys were guiltily avoiding eye contact.

“Someone better start talking, like right fucking now,” She growled through gritted teeth.

The Legends seemed to sense that Director Sharpe was not messing around and Nate cleared his throat, preparing to speak.

“Well, things were a little crazy,” Nate began, his tone comforting and soft. “The anachronism was a level 9 when we got there but it jumped up to a level 11 almost immediately after we landed.”

Ava nodded and gestured for Nate to go on, it was clear to her that the Legends were hiding something very important. Zari and Charlie were both shifting anxiously from foot to foot, Mick was keeping his eyes down, eyeing the beer he could see out of his peripheral vision, Ray was bouncing in place, unable to be still and his eyes were darting around nervously. Nate was the picture of composure as he clearly was trying to keep the Legends together in Sara’s absence.

“Damien Darhk was there,” he said softly, his blue eyes boaring into Ava’s own.

 _“What!”_ Ava shouted. Her eyes were wild and furious. “Since when is Darhk even alive, nevermind following you guys on missions again.”

“Honestly, this is the first time we’ve seen him,” Ray stepped in, guilt heavy in his eyes. “But we did know that he was alive. Nora told me.”

Ava knew that Ray’s squirrely behavior was a clear sign that he felt guilty but the Bureau agent was seeing red and unable to feel any amount of sympathy for the team of travelers in front of her.

“And not one of you thought that contacting me,” Ava caught herself and swallowed harshly. “Contacting the Time Bureau was something you should do? That didn’t occur to any of you?”

Zari bristled at the clear insult. “We’re not thoughtless idiots Ava.”

The blonde scoffed angrily and crossed her arms. “You sure about that?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. The Time Bureau is so filled with crooks that we don’t even know who we can trust and the one person who is supposed to be on our side, on Sara’s side, isn’t even speaking to her,” Zari spat. “So yeah, I’m sure.”

Fire danced in the tall woman’s eyes and she bit down on her tongue to stop herself from ripping Zari and her team a new one. Ava was furious, of course, at the accusation that the Time Bureau was full of dishonest people and even more insulted she implied that it was _Ava_ who was not on _Sara’s_ side when the entire reason but their fight/temporary split was the fact that Sara had not been in her corner when she had needed her the most.

“Just go, please,” Ava seethed, her voice dangerously quiet.

No one moved.

“I swear if you guys don’t get out of this med bay,” Ava threatened but before she could finish, Ray, Nate, and Amaya had all stood up and headed for the door. The med bay window was transparent so they could still see Sara but no matter the state of the romantic relationship between the two women, they knew that Ava would keep Sara safe.

Zari and, surprisingly, Mick lingered behind, their eyes trained on Sara for any movement and then flickered back over to Ava’s.

Finally, Zari seemed to find whatever she was looking for and nodded once. She shot what was clearly a warning glance at the agent and departed with the rest of her team. Mick was the last man standing and although Ava didn’t want to admit it, he was an intimidating guy.

 A moment passed. Then another. Ava finally decided it would be best to pretend Mick wasn’t even in the room and pulled a chair over, scraping it across the floor and sitting next to Sara. She opened her mouth to speak to the other blonde but froze and looked at Mick once more.

Finally, the mountain man nodded and let out a threatening grunt before he too left the med bay, leaving the couple alone together.

* * *

 

_“Gideon,” Sara called to the ceiling of her girlfriend’s apartment roof._

_“We’re in my room, babe,” Ava reminded her, quirking an eyebrow._

_Sara felt a familiar rush of heat but it was not embarrassment. She would have happily pounced on her girlfriend but Gideon and her perfect timing interrupted her with a phone call, alerting them about their summer camp anachronism._

_A lot of people had called Sara Lance ‘babe’ over the course of her lifetime(s) but no one, not one, of the men or women before her had made Sara felt as special as Ava did just by calling her by a pet name._

Sara was pulled out of the memory of their night together before travelling back in time to go to summer camp and gasped for air. The first thing Sara felt was crushing pain in her skull, followed closely by a feeling of agony in her feet, and a delicate pressure on her left hand. Her other arm instinctively reached up to rip what she was sure was oxygen out of her noise but the pressure on her hand was gone and in an instant she felt something catch her right hand before it reached its destination.

“Sara don’t,” the voice chastised. “You need that to breathe.”

Sara opened her mouth to argue but no noise came out. She tried to quell the rising panic she felt in her sternum as a feeling of numbness washed over her.

As if the voice could read her mind, it answered, “That’s just Gideon. Your pain levels have got to be dangerously high and she’s going to correct the -”

The voice broke off and wobbled. Sara suspected the voice was crying but still found herself unable to open her eyes completely.

“Correct the shattered bones in your feet and wrap your ribcage. So she’s administering some morphine through your IV.”

Sara couldn’t quite place the voice guiding her but it was soft and comforting and for the first time in days, Sara felt warm. She allowed the feeling to wash over her as she drifted back into unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this one is mostly just ~tension and drama~ but I'm a sucker for angsty Avalance so here it is. Thank GOD they worked it out on the show and how freaking cute was their whole Ikea thing two weeks ago? Seriously God bless the writers for Lot. AND ALSO can we talk about how freaking canon Zari and Charlie are?? With that whole 'so you're straight' thing? Like I love Nate and everything but come on Charlie is CLEARLY her soulmate.

Sara woke up a few hours later, still lying on her cot in the med bay but substantially less disoriented than she was before. Her eyes were crusted over with sleep and it took her more time than she’d like to admit for her to be able to fully open her blue orbes. The smell of antiseptic and extreme sanitization flooded her nostrils in harmony with her eyes allowing her to take in her surroundings and she immediately put together that she was in the med bay of the Waverider. Panic seized her lungs as she recalled the events the lead up to her grievous injuries and she immediately tried to sit up in order to survey the damage done to her legs and feet. She jerked herself into her best effort at sitting position with a swift twist of her abdominal muscles.

The action was a mistake.

Pain shot through Sara’s entire torso, cluing her in on the fact that she most definitely had some broken limbs, including her ribs. The thought was terrifying because nothing put a fighter like Sara out of commission quite like having broken or bruised ribs. Her hands immediately went to her clearly damaged ribs and she braced them against herself as she lowered back down.

“Good afternoon Captain Lance,” Gideon’s voice greeted neutrally.

“Gideon,” Sara croaked, her voice rusty with disuse. “How’s it hanging?”

“If you are referring to the state of your numerous injuries, I would have to say they are not ‘hanging’ very well.”

“How long have I been out?” she asked, flexing her muscles to take stock of what _didn’t_ hurt.

“Close to 11 hours, Captain Lance,” Gideon chimed. “You are presently suffering from a severe concussion, multiple lacerations to your chest and back, bruising on approximately 60% of your body, a dislocated shoulder – likely from the way you fell after the blast, swelling in your arms from micro-tears in the connective tissue, two broken legs and the bones in your feet were completely shattered in the explosion.”

Sara felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her; her hands felt heavy and cold as she tried to hold up them up in front of her face but found herself unable to. Logically, she knew that Gideon was just reciting the medical facts of her case but her delivery was devastating. How was she supposed to heal from all this? Even with Gideon’s ability to heal her thanks to extremely advanced medical technology, surely she would still be out of commission for a few days minimum while the reset bones healed up.

“I am detecting a rapid increase in your heart rate which indicates you are feeling distressed,” Gideon continued. “Do not worry, after some extensive medical intervention and rehabilitation, you will be back to your full potential in no time.”

“Why,” Sara’s voice cracked. “Why didn’t you heal me while I was asleep?”

“You were unconscious, not asleep,” Ava corrected swiftly, catching the tail end of her conversation with Gideon. The supercomputer had already given her the rundown on Sara’s condition as soon as she had deduced it for herself. The Time Bureau agent had spent the last several hours feeling guilty for the role their break up had no doubt played in Sara’s mindset and then angry at Sara for getting herself in such a dangerous and life threatening situation, once again.

 “And she didn’t operate on you because you have a _serious concussion_ and we needed to make sure that your memory was intact and you weren’t suffering from any major brain swelling before Gideon put you under anesthesia.”

“Ava,” Sara said, as if wonder struck by the other’s girl’s sudden appearance. “What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here?” Ava repeated incredulously. “Sara, you could have died. Where else would I be?”

The older blonde said the words as if they were the most obvious explanation in the entire world but a large piece of the agent’s heart cracked at the knowledge that things were so bad between them that Sara was genuinely confused as to what she could be doing here with her.

Sara felt her still rapidly beating heart melt at the blatant concern and softness in Ava’s tone. Despite their fight earlier, Ava was still here and still cared about her.

“Oh,” Sara said softly, her shoulders relaxing. “I’m really glad you came.”

“Always,” the taller blonde promised. She was still lingering in the doorway of the medbay but upon seeing how well their interaction was going, she crossed the room and reclaimed her seat at the edge of Sara’s hospital bed, where she had been residing for the past several hours. The other Legends had dropped by throughout the day, taking turns to visit their fearless leader while still trying not to disturb the two women. Zari had stopped by for her third visit about three hours ago and all but demanded that Ava take some time to eat, sleep, and take a shower. Ava resisted heavily but upon Gideon’s promise to wake her up as soon as Sara started to come around, she finally relented and made her way to Sara’s chambers.

Just her luck, Ava only got about 2 hours of sleep post shower and quick dinner before Gideon woke her up via intercom and informed her that Sara was starting to wake up. Ava had thanked the super computer and requested that she wait another ten minutes before informing the rest of the Legends that their captain was awake as she wanted to avoid overwhelming the other woman. That, and, she was hoping for a moment alone with her ex? Girlfriend? Whatever she was? Prior to Sara being bombarded with questions and apologies from her teammates.

Sara cleared her throat uncomfortably and squirmed in her place, regretting the action right away as it shot a jolt of pain through her system.

“Yeah, I recommend you stop doing that,” Ava scoffed, crossing her arms but smiling at the other blonde affectionately.

Sara ignored her commentary entirely, “Well now that I’m awake and clearly not brain damaged, can you heal my ribs? And put my feet back together?”

Sara opted for a nonchalant tone but Ava could hear the panic skirting around the edges and her heart squeezed in sympathy. She uncrossed her arms and scooted closer to the girl, gently taking her hand that was not connected to an IV and linked it with her own. She may not be the biggest fan of Sara’s crazy risk taking but she was unable to watch the scared expression on her face and not even try to soothe her.

“Not quite, Captain Lance,” Gideon chimed. “I detect an unnatural amount of swelling in your brain and it would be unwise for you to remain unconscious for such a prolonged period of time so quickly after injuring yourself.”

Sara rolled her eyes, “I wouldn’t exactly say I injured _myself_ Gideon.”

“Really?” Ava accused. “So, you didn’t basically throw yourself on top of a bomb that Damien Darhk threw on the ground to protect the other members of your team?”

Ava managed to keep her tone neutral but her expressive blue eyes betrayed how truly unimpressed with Sara’s actions she was.

Sara guessed with a wince, “Nate?”

Ava made a noise of disagreement, a tiny smile quirking onto her lips.

“Ah,” Sara nodded. “Ray, then.”

Ava nodded, her smile dropping. “Would you have told me yourself?”

Sara looked dumbfounded, “Yeah, Ava of course I would have. Why would you even ask me that?”

“Maybe because you keep things from me for my own ‘protection’ all of the time, Lance,” she retorted.

“Lance, huh?” Sara mused. “It’s been a long time since you called me that. You must be really pissed at me.”

“You’re deflecting,” Ava called her out immediately. “Sara we really need to talk -”

“Sara, you’re awake!” Charlie cried, zooming into the medbay with her fellow Legends hot on her heels.

Ava felt herself deflate as a wave of disappointment crashed over her body. Her conversation with Sara would have to wait until all of the Legends had seen for themselves that the other woman was alright and gotten the full run down on her healing prognosis. Without another word, Ava stood from the bed and prepared to leave the Legends alone with their captain.

“Ava wait!” Sara called desperately.

Sara’s cry wasn’t what caught Ava’s attention though, the sound of the Legend’s heart rate monitor speeding up caused her to freeze in her tracks, knowing that she was the cause of her girlfriend’s anxiety at the moment. Without giving it another thought she spun around on her heel and slipped back into Sara’s room; the eyes of all the Legends on her.

“Babe, I’m just gonna go wait in your room,” Ava promised quietly. “I’ll be right there waiting for you. I just wanted to give you guys a minute alone.”

“Oh,” Sara sighed, feeling foolish. “Okay. I’ll be there soon, right Gideon?”

“If you would prefer to recover in your personal chambers, that would be acceptable,” Gideon acknowledged. “Provided that someone accompanies you to assist with your bedtime rituals.”

“Settled then,” Ava smiled – although it looked a little hollow for Sara’s taste. “See you soon.”

Sara wanted to say something, to call after her. Anything to stop Ava from leaving. She felt some kind of irrational fear that if she didn’t fix things with her girlfriend right away then they would be beyond repair and it was causing the ball of anxiety in her stomach to fester. But the Waverider captain knew Ava well enough to know that she would never talk to her about their relationship with all of the other Legends gathered around – not that Sara blamed her, she felt the same way – and so she resigned herself to having to wait until they could find a moment alone together later that night.

* * *

 

Hours later, the Legends were finally satisfied after the inquisition of Sara’s health. The blonde captain had, with the assistance of Mick, been escorted back to her private chambers and had been set down – as gently as the giant man was capable of – on her bed. Since being the in the same room together, the two girls had yet to really say much of anything to each other. Sara was terrified to start the conversation because she found herself paralyzed by the idea that Ava was going to break up with her officially. That, and, she found herself struggling to keep her eyes open because she was so exhausted.

Just when she thought that she was going to be able to get to sleep without any confrontation with Ava, the other blonde broke the silence.

"Sara can we talk, please?" Ava begged. She tried to keep her voice from cracking but she wasn't successful. She did, however, manage to blink back the tears stinging at her eyes. 

"Nothing to talk," Sara's speech was interrupted by a deep yawn. "Talk about." 

"Babe, there's so much to talk about but I don't want to overwhelm you while you're still healing."

Sara shook her head, "Gideon is going to be able to fix everything, Aves."

Ava rolled her eyes, "She's going to be able to fix your concussion, Sara? How does that work?" 

Sara let out a sad sigh and closed her eyes gently. Her head felt like an actual jackhammer was hammering into her skull but she and Ava were finally back on stable ground; the last thing she wanted to do was upset her girlfriend.

“It’s complicated,” Sara murmured. Her hands came up to run her temples.

Ava happened to be facing away when Sara answered and missed the gesture. “I think I can keep up,” she snapped.

Sara, hearing her girlfriend’s confrontational tone, jerked her eyes open and leaned up – the sudden movement causing a ricochet of pain throughout her mind.

“Ava, I wasn’t implying that you weren’t able to understand. I was trying to tell you that I don’t even know. Zari is really the one who gets into all that technical stuff and even the medical technicalities are a mystery to her,” Sara explained, deliberately keeping her voice even and placating. In part, because she wanted to deescalate the argument and the other part because any louder the blonde feared her head may actually explode. 

Ava immediately felt like a complete bitch. She was so quick to assume the worst despite having a reasonably average upbringing – if you could even call it that – and Sara had literally died, been to Hell, and been reborn and somehow she found a way believe in people.

“Shit,” Ava sighed. “I’m sorry babe.”

The taller blonde leaned down over to the bed and laid next to her injured girlfriend. She reached out and gently tucked one of the blonde’s stray hairs behind her ears.

“I didn’t mean to snap at you,” Ava said softly. “I just –”

“I know,” Sara cut her off quickly, offering a quick smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Truthfully, Sara had no idea what her girlfriend had been about to say but she also wasn’t sure she would have been able to handle whatever the taller woman’s response was going to be.

Honestly, Sara was starting to get whiplash. Was Ava angry or concerned? Was she her girlfriend or were they on a break? Broken up? The taller woman kept calling her ‘babe’ in that affectionate tone she loved so much but how much did that really mean?

Ava eyed her girlfriend critically, as if staring at her hard enough would betray her true feelings about their fight.

Silence enveloped the couple as Ava turned off the overhead lights and got up, preparing to switch the lamp off. It was still pretty early in the evening but both women were so exhausted from the events of the past few days that they both found they desired nothing more than to sleep. Ava had already performed her nightly routine of brushing her teeth and applying her skin care after the shower she’d just taken. She wandered around the bedroom, hanging up clothes and straightening papers nervously; she was unsure how this interaction with Sara was going to go considering they had yet to talk about any of their issues and it felt like the elephant in the room was getting bigger with every passing hour.

Finally, Ava ran out of things to keep her hands busy and settled herself down beside Sara on the bed once again. She pulled back the covers on her side and eased over – making sure to be as near her girlfriend as possible without hurting her. Ava thought it would be best if Sara were to find a comfortable position for them considering how afraid she was of causing the Legend any additional physical pain. Sara seemed to take the hint and mindful of her ribs, she inched across the bed until she could wrap herself up in Ava’s very delicate embrace.

The silence between the women was almost eerie. There was no talk of their days or playfully exchange of kisses. No one was reading or finishing up paperwork. Sara wrestled with herself internally; she knew that she needed to ask Ava the questions that were burning a hole in her chest, despite not truly wanting answers to them. The captain found that the task was slightly less daunting when the darkness covered the couple so completely. This would be much easier if she was not being stared down by those deep blue eyes she loved so damn much. Biting the bullet, Sara decided to get the ball rolling.

“Can I ask you something?” Sara asked quietly.

“Of course,” Ava replied, making a conscious effort to keep her voice soft and inviting. For someone who was quite possibly the bravest person Ava had ever known, Sara spooked easily and the time agent was going to do her best to prevent that from happening.

“Would you,” Sara cut herself off. She let out an aggravated huff, clearly getting frustrated with herself. “Would we, do you think that you -”

“Sara, my love,” Ava stopped her with a gentle hand on her wrist. “Relax. It’s just me.”

Sara nodded but much to Ava’s displeasure, she did not appear to relax in the slightest. The tension in her shoulders remained and she worked her jaw clockwise, hoping to loosen the muscles. Ava felt her own brow furrow in concern; had she really allowed things to get so bad that Sara felt this stressed just to talk to her?

“Would we have made up if it weren’t for…what happened?” Sara asked, finding the dark much more comforting than having to look into Ava’s sky blue eyes.

Ava felt her heart crack into pieces at how _scared_ she sounded. The taller girl couldn’t help but wonder what she had done to give Sara the impression that she was here with her, taking care of her, because she had to or out of some obligation instead because of the truth, that she wanted to be.

“Sara, look at me,” Ava requested. “Please?”

Clear blue eyes refused to look from the spot on the comforter they had anchored to and Ava felt another wave of sadness wash over her. When had things gotten this bad between them?

“Okay,” she sighed. “Sara I need you to really hear me when I tell you this.”

The phrase did the trick; Sara’s electric eyes finally snapped up and met Ava’s in the dark. The blonde held her breath, waiting for the answer that would affect the course of their entire relationship.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter!!!

**Author's Note:**

> So there's chapter one!!! I already have a good amount of chapter two written but tragically it is finals week at my university and I am s u f f e r i n g. In the next chapter we have all the hurt/comfort of Ava looking after an injured and emotionally stunted Sara and who doesn't love that? 
> 
> I'll still probably upload the next chapter in a few days unless I literally die from college. Let me know what you think! I'm always open to thoughts/suggestions/commentary.  
> See you soon, darlings.


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